Smoke eliminator



Feb. 4, 1930. F, wl MILLER 1,745,579

SMOKE ELIMINATOR Filed April 7, 1927 2 sheets-sheet 1 Feb. 4, 1930. F. w. MILLER SMOKE ELIMINATOR Filed April '7, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 4, 1930 PATENT OFFICE FRANK W. MILLER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS suoxn mmma'ron Application led April 7, 1927. Serial No. 181,692.

This invention pertains generally to smoke eliminators of the type which promote complete combustion of fuel to thus eliminate smoke rather than the type which separate out from the products of combustion the unburned matter and dispose of it without burning it. While this invention may be applied to any fuel burning apparatus regardless of whether the fuel be normally gaseous, liquid lo or solid, it is herein illustrated as applied to a locomotive of the type now commonly in use.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an apparatus for the elimination of smoke and which is capable of ypromoting the combustion of unburned matter in the products of combustion.

Another object of this invention is to pro vide an apparatus for eliminating smoke by promoting the complete combustion of matter in the products of combustion which otherwise would have remained unburned, this promoted combustion taking place within the fuel burning apparatus at a point` where it produces useful heat.

Another object is to provide apparatus for eliminating smoke and adapted to deliver in regulatable quantities air for the promotion of combustion of unburned matter in the air into the products taking place without chilling the burning fuel.

Another object is to introduce air into the products of combustion to promote the combustion of unburned matter therein without adversely affecting the normal draft in the -fuel burning apparatus.

Another object is to provide apparatus for smoke elimination having means for accurately regulating they amount of air introduced for smoke elimination purposesll in proportion to the quantity of unburned matter existing simultaneously in the products of combustion.

Another object of this invention is to provide a smoke elimination apparatus particularly adaptable to use on locomotives and capable of effecting smoke elimination when the locomotive is standing in the terminal or whenit is moving on the rails.

products of combustion, the delivery of thel Another object of this invention is to introduce the air for smoke elimination at a po1nt in the fuel burning apparatus where the. a1r and products of combustion during thelr mixing will be heated by radiated or reflected heat or both.

Another object is to provide smoke eliminatlon apparatus having any or all of the above advantages as well as other advantages, easily operated and installed and capable of being manufactured, installed and operated at an extremely low cost.

Other inherent objects, advantages and capabilities will later become apparent.

Referring now to the drawings in which the lnvention -is illustrated as applied to locomotives,

1 is a vertical central longitudinal section of a locomotive fire box showing the air'spray heads on one side of the box in position, with a portion of the boiler in elevatlon showing the manually operated air valve. l

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing a locomotive equlpped with the smoke eliminator, showing two sources of high pressure air supply.

Flg. 4 is a vertical central longitudinal sect1on of a jet and spray head.

I Fig. 5 is a plan view of the device shown 1n Fig. 4.

Referring now in greater detail to the drawings, a locomotive iire box 1 is illustrated as having a bed of burning fuel 2, such as coal. The usual fire box doorway 3 is provided for feeding of the fire.

At a certain distance above the normal level of the lire bed, two rows of spray heads 4, one row on each side of the re box are positioned. Special spray heads 5 are located as illustrated for a purpose hereinafter explained. Leading into each of the spray heads is a tube 6 which supports its respective spray head and is iXed in some suitable manner in the walls of the lire box. The outer end of each tube flares outwardly as at 7 so that highpressure air coming through the pipes 8 and discharging from the jets 9 will entrain along with it quantities of is obtained, namely the projection of suffe. cient quantities of air into'the productsv ofv combustionto suppl)7 the additional air required for smoke elimination. The spray heads 5 are designed somewhat differently from the other spray heads in order that they may discharge streams of air into the frontof thelfire box to properly mix with any of the products of combustion which may arise in that space.

Not only are thespray heads intended to completely cover all ofthe products of combustion arising from the fire b'ed to. effect the thorough mixing of air with those products but it is important that the air thus sprayed not adversely affect the normal draft from the fire bed to the smoke stack. Consequently, itis desirable to ldirect the streams of air generally in the direction of the exhausting products of combustion. As the practice of firing may differ andas the draft conditions in locomotives may depend upon the design of the lire box and the boiler, it isvery easy to position the spray heads to effect the desired efficient mixing of air and hot gases. The height of the spray heads will also vary with different locomotives and one thing that will always be avoided is a chilling of the bed of fire by the injected streams of air. Such chilling will easily be prevented by disposing` the spray heads sufficiently above the fire bed; yet the spray heads will be as low as may be proper vso that the air will mix with the gases in the zone Where a large amount'of heat is radiated from the lire bed or from the wallsl of the fire box. In some cases where this smoke eliminator is applied to other types of fuel burning apparatus, the zone in which the air and products of combustion mix may be receiving heat reflected from parts of the apparatus other than from the fire bed or it mav be receiving heat from -both the fire bed and the Walls or parts of the apparatus.

While the drawings show the apparatus installed .in a locomotive in which a solid fuel such as coal is beingburned, it should be evident that this smoke eliminator will work as well with locomotives burning fuel which is normally liquid ornormally gascous and also with other fuel burning devices utilizing fuels of any kind. The positioning of the air injectors will, of course, then depend upon the nature of the fuel, the draft conditions and the type of the fuel burning device.

llocked in those positions. I

videdk a hand operated valve 12 having a` handle 13 which may be rotated into any one of vseveral positions and possibly spring desirable, the rotation of this handle into the various positions will cause different quantities of air to pass through the@ vvalve to thereafter be sprayed into the fire box. This type of valve may be found particularly useful in locomotive firing as the handle may be easily pushed into an .one of several postions, and easily release therefrom thus giving the operator an easy means of injecting just enough air into the fire box to properly mix with the products of combustion to burn the amount of unburned matter existing in the products at v.

the instant that the air is being injected. The amount of unburned matter will, of course, depend upon the condition of thebed of fire and the amount of fresh fuel being' added. It appears then that when the fireman is throwing fresh coal upon his bed 4of fire, he can quickly ,and with a mere stroke of the hand cause just enough air to be injected into the fire box to unite with the hot .l

gases therein to cause the combustion of whatever incompletely burned matter may be arising from the fire bed. Not only will solid particles of carbon be thus consumed, but certain noxious gases may also be eliminated as the air is sprayed into the fire box,

for instance, carbon monoxide will be instantly converted into carbon dioxide.

The air regulated by the valve 12 when the locomotive is in the terminal may be taken from the terminal air storage tank 14 Vthrough the pipe 15 or it may be taken from the air tank 16 which is located on the locomotive itself. Consequently, though a fire is maintained in the locomotive while in the terminal, all smoke will be eliminated. Likewise, while the locomotive is moving on the rails in the vicinity of habitations where smoke isv proscribed against, the fireman may use, air from the locomotive air tank to entirelyeliminatethe smoke.

. In order to obtain sufficient air for the com plete combustion of the unburnedv particles existing in the productsof combustion and to properly distribute the injected air wherever needed` it will not usually be necessary to obtain all of such air from the storage tanks where the air is maintained at pressure of perhaps ninety pounds. It is found that the desired results may be obtained by entraining along with the high pressure air a certain amount vof air at atmospheric pres'- sure, this'being ,done by Vmeans of the jets 9'and the tubes 6, as shown in Figure 2. The proportion of high pressure air and air at atmospheric pressure will be varied in accordance with the vconditions being lcoped with in a particular fuel burning apparatus.

Not only doesv this apparatus eliminate lsmoke but in its particular method of oper'- ation 'certain eiciencies eculiar to it;A arise therefrom which are of t emselves ofgreatadvantage. By burningthe unburned parti-f y cles in the fire' boxparticles of fuel which would otherwise have passed out in theprod-y Y ucts of combustion unburned, lthe de osits of soot in the lire tubes and elsewhere inthe boiler between the re box and the ultimateexit of the vgases isentirely eliminated with resultant greater eiiiciency, and atthesame time the completion of the-'combustion within f 'p the fire box produces usefulv heat *which .is1 created where vit will do the most good. i I Whenever the fuel is burning without lpro-4 ducing any smoke, the valve may be moved to the closed position. If there should bepany tendency for dust particles or soot toa'ccu-v mulate on the ports of the spray heads while i the valve is closed, such deposits maybe p t properly received upon the' slightly outward liaring'lips 17, 'shown in Fig. 4. Such de-v posits here'will protect the edges of the ports i from the l-heat radiated in the fire beds and yet will easily be blown therefrom as soon as air.4 s'.again discharged from the sprayfheads'.: Should it be found necessary in orderto keep thespray heads in good condition, it would very easily be possible to ypermit va slight amount of compressed air to by-pass around the valve or go through itfand be discharged jfrom each spray head in small quantities lsufiicient to keep the heads coolbut notfin` v quantities'large enough to cool the interior ofthe fire box. I il It should be understood that various modifications are comprehended by this invention and may b e made without departing vfrom its, v

I' o spirit and scope.

. lHavingshown anddescribed this invention, I claim: e

, In combination with a combustion chamber having an exhaust opening at one endl 4I51ther'eof, a plurality of nozzles projecting through'opposit'e lateral sides of the chamber, means for com ressing fresh air, pipes `for conducting .sai compressed air to and injecting it-into said Inozzles, said pi ys and nature.

50 nozzles being arranged for entrainmg atmosphericair upon the compressed air enter.- ing the nozzles, and spray heads on the exv haust ends ofthe nozzles adapted to deliver the kair from the nozzlesl toward the middle 'and toward the exhaust end of the chamber in a single continuous thin sheet of air ex tending over substantially the entire horizontal, cross section of said chamber.

- In witness of the foregoing I ax `my sig- FRANK w. MILLER. 

